Re:Gender works to end gender inequity by exposing root causes and advancing research-informed action. Working with multiple sectors and disciplines, we are shaping a world that demands fairness across difference.

Work:life Balance

Flexible work arrangements and policies that address caregiving roles result in paybacks for both employers and employees. Research shows that employees with a satisfying work/life balance are more productive, creative, innovative and motivated at work and are less likely to leave their positions. Flexibility also encourages gender diversity in the workplace by easing the way for women to stay on their chosen career tracks while providing caregiving to children and family members or pursuing other interests and responsibilities.

The Working Moms: How do they manage? joint survey by TODAYMoms and iVillage, reports that 67.5 percent of working mothers would prefer to have an assistant at home rather than at work.

Editorial:

From the article:

In a survey of more than 700 working moms, 67.5 percent said they would prefer an assistant at home rather than at work. The survey Working Moms: How do they manage?, a joint venture by TODAYMoms and iVillage, found that 17.5 percent said they’d prefer help at work. (And a curious 19.5 percent answered “none of the above.” We want to know: who are these wonder women?)

Among other findings in the areas of chores, sick-leave, fitness and general happiness:

66 percent of full-time working moms are responsible for 75 percent of the household chores. Meanwhile, an unlucky 11 percent say they’re responsible for ALL of the household chores.

What’s a working mom to do when she gets sick? Soldier on, is the response of 24 percent, who said “I am not allowed to get sick.”

More than 75 percent say that juggling work and family makes it hard to live a healthy lifestyle.

Asked how they feel about being a working mom, “proud” beat out “guilty” – barely. While 87 percent feel proud, 82 percent felt guilty. (They were allowed to pick more than one choice.)

Nearly 60 percent are satisfied with the time they spend with their kids.

Using federal statistics, this report provides a picture of women in America in five areas: demographic and family changes, education, employment, health, and crime and violence.

Editorial:

From the Foreword:

Each page of this report is full of the most up-to-date facts on the status of women. Of particular note are the following:

As the report shows, women have made enormous progress on some fronts. Women have not only caught up with men in college attendance but younger women are now more likely than younger men to have a college or a master’s degree. Women are also working more and the number of women and men in the labor force has nearly equalized in recent years. As women’s work has increased, their earnings constitute a growing share of family income.

Yet, these gains in education and labor force involvement have not yet translated into wage and income equity. At all levels of education, women earned about 75 percent of what their male counterparts earned in 2009. In part because of these lower earnings and in part because unmarried and divorced women are the most likely to have responsibility for raising and supporting their children, women are more likely to be in poverty than men. These economic inequities are even more acute for women of color.

Women live longer than men but are more likely to face certain health problems, such as mobility impairments, arthritis, asthma, depression, and obesity. Women also engage in lower levels of physical activity. Women are less likely than men to suffer from heart disease or diabetes. Many women do not receive specific recommended preventative care, and one out of seven women age 18-64 has no usual source of health care. The share of women in that age range without health insurance has also increased.

Women are less likely than in the past to be the target of violent crimes, including homicide. But women are victims of certain crimes, such as intimate partner violence and stalking, at higher rates than men.

Source:

U. S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration and Executive Office of the President Office of Management and Budget

Ing Direct and Dailyworth.com conducted a survey that reveals that many women know very little about their own retirement plans.

Editorial:

From PR Newswire Press Release:

Nearly eight in ten (78 percent) women say they lack financial savvy (or they are still learning) about retirement planning. Given this, more than one in three married women admit they hand over the reins for their retirement planning to their spouse or significant other. Still a quarter of women (23 percent) acknowledge that they should pay more attention to retirement planning.

To help determine why some women lack readiness in their retirement planning, the survey revealed that:

Nearly 30 percent have no idea what their main source of retirement income will be.

40 percent of women don't know what kind of retirement lifestyle they want.

49 percent wish they knew more about the basics of investing, including picking the right stocks or funds, and portfolio and risk management.

37 percent of women blame a lack of time, complicated Wall Street jargon and trouble with their everyday expenses as hurdles that prevent them from being investing savvy.

Last week Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Preeta Bansal, General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, hosted a White House Webchat to highlight findings from the recently released report Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being. Here at NCRW we were thrilled to see Jarrett and Bansal advocating for the same policies and programs that are on our agenda.

The Fall/Winter 2010 issue of Research & Action Report includes a Q&A with Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. outlining recent trends around work and family balance. "It used to be men who were expected to be married to their jobs; now it's women and men. And it's much harder to deal with work/family issues when you never leave work," says Marshall, senior associate director and research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). The full article is available online.

Working America and the AFL-CIO recently launched the 2010 Ask a Working Woman survey. A similar survey has been done every 2 years, and in 2008, the survey illicited 12,000 responses - a number Working America and AFL-CIO would like to match this year.

This Sunday (July 26) while others will be celebrating National Parent’s Day, I will be honoring my ancestors at the San Francisco Buddhist Temple Obon Festival. Though I have no children of my own, I am, perhaps ironically, the god parent of my Catholic niece and nephew and have played a parental role for my immigrant mother since the day I could speak English. While I recognize the need to honor people who have their own children, I long for a world where we can embrace and respect all types of families and networks of care in which we willingly (but more often unwillingly) become involved.

National Parents Day, unlike the heavily promoted and merchandised Mother’s and Father’s Days that by their very nature tend to reflect gendered expectations around parenting, really broadens the discussion of family in all its diversity. Today’s celebration is inclusive, celebrating ALL parents, and without a strict definition of mom+dad+baby=family. So we are not excluding same-sex couples, single parents, noncustodial parents, step-parents, extended families, or anyone who might sometimes feel left out of traditional holidays framed around out-dated expectations of how most children are parented.

Earlier this week Rebekah Spicuglia, non-custodial parent advocate extraordinaire, blogged for us as part of our National Parent’s Day forum. This morning, she appeared on The Today Show. Check out the video and send Rebekah some love here in comments.